In Time
by Aconite72
Summary: It has been decades since she was gone and he still hadn’t forgotten. Hiccstrid one-shot.


**Just a Hiccstrid one-shot I thought up after I watched HTTYD 3's trailer and got super-hyped once again.**

 **When I'm happy I tend to get murderous.**

 **Enjoy I guess.**

* * *

Those before him who are wiser and greater than he ever was has told a phrase that has been universally acknowledged by everyone as a hard truth: _Time changes everything._

Be it things as fickle as beauty, age, and love, to things as colossal and celestial as the stars, the constellations, the Sun, and the Moon. All are subjected to the quiet, but savage destruction of time.

But for Hiccup, there are things in his life that had never changed. Berk was still heralded by all those who visited it as: _'Twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death'_ (May or may not has been popularised by the village's Chief Haddock). And also their dragon situation has never changed. Despite the fact that at the time the great Hiccup was still an _'awkward teeny'_ dragons were considered to be fire-breathing and flesh-ripping pests, Berk - since the changes Hiccup had brought to this land - was still the beacon of unity between men and dragons. There were a couple of ... mishaps in their years of living together, such as that one time the entire village was almost burned down due to a cough pandemic that struck the dragon population.

 _Life was good._

But for the great Hiccup personally the part of him that love his village along with all of its inhabitants - human and dragons alike - with an unquenchable rigor never changed. They are not only his responsibility, but also his family. And in the decades that had passed with him at the helm, he took this love and acted on it until Berk became just more than a nameless village with a dragon problem. Excluding the fact that dragons now are pets (Maybe even Berk's legal residents), the village has grown and prospered enough it became the richest tribe and island in the archipelago. And even beyond. Trading ships and diplomatic envoys from unknown lands and countries across the ocean streamed to the archipelago with the sole purpose of conducting business with the Hooligan Tribe, see all of its grandeur, and pet some Terrible Terrors maybe.

He reflected on this as he settled his creaking and hurting bones down onto the wooden bench he had builders constructed in the crater that is the Cove. Overlooking the virgin, glittering lake that despite the fantastic beauty, still untouched and remained a secret to anyone but Hiccup and his old gang.

Hiccup has decided to walk all the way from the village, through the dense forest to this place hoping it would clear his mind from the troubles of being a Chief. But his old body: Worn from years of battling and flying protested with ripples of pain and aches in his muscles and joints.

While his mind has yet to be touched by time, his body surely had.

Hiccup was not young anymore. He would be 72 this year, after all. His forest green eyes were sunken in from sleepless nights and stress, his skin, once smooth was now marred with wrinkles. His hair transformed from a sea of brown into a grey mare. Chief Haddock has passed his prime.

Hiccup shuddered as a cold gust of air blown across the transparent surface of the lake, rippling the water, and seemingly froze whatever patches of exposed skin it could find. It was kind of funny how, even after all of the troubles and dangers he had went through in his youth, he would be able to see this day and contemplate this thought. An old man sitting in his place that reminded him of bittersweet memories of days gone by, contemplating how quickly they had gone.

Astrid would've chuckled sweetly in her sweet lulling voice and rubbed into his face the fact that he had fossilised if she was here.

 _If_. Hiccup closed his eyes as the familiar twinge tugged at his heartstring.

 _She_ was the worst thing that time has stolen from him. They have always joked that his clumsiness and tendency to get into epic troubles would build his tombstone earliest out of the two. But as a testament to how awful Odin's sense of humour was, his beautiful wife fell terminally ill even before she was 55 years old.

He was there beside her from the moment she found herself getting more and more tired. To the nights after that faithful day when he would abandon all of his duties. Instead, spending all of his hours just clutching her burning body in his arms as she cried into his chest from all the pain that was breaking apart her body, mind, and soul alike. He would be lying that he didn't cry - he cried along with her through the night, his sobbing interlaced with meaningless prayers that were never returned.

His girl breathed her last just a week later in his arms, in her sleep and in the night. When Hiccup opened his eyes that somber morning, he howled in torment as he couldn't feel her warm breath ghosting his chin anymore, and the up and down motion of her lungs gathering breaths.

The Chief's roars were joined by the dragons, who, feeling his grief all made their own mourning cries. The harbour that was bustling with activities came to a halt and across the island, a blanket of silence descended upon Berk. They knew, they all knew. Sorrow was apparent in the atmosphere that was suddenly so suffocating, yet none ever came close to the pain that Hiccup felt as his heart was torn in half. Even the roar of Stormfly who realised her rider was no more was surpassed. And even the tears packed with loss of their children weren't as bitter as the rivulets that cascaded down his cheeks and onto the locks of hair on the head of the lifeless woman in his arms.

 _His_ girl was gone just like that. His wife and his friend. The mother of his children. The Chieftess of Berk.

Gone.

Claimed by time that swiftly from his clutch.

Even nearly twenty years later as his body, somehow, was still stubbornly clinging onto his lonesome, partner-less life, his heart had never really recovered from that blow. Hiccup could still sometimes see her blue eyes in the sky dome of those rare, clear days. And he was convinced that, sometimes, he felt as if he could run his bony fingers through the strands of sun rays and felt her silky, blond locks in-between his fingers. Her scent still lingering so long after her death in the forest - the smell of the greenest evergreen, the oldest patches of the earth, and the earliest of dews.

Like now. As his eyes drifted across the peaceful lake in front of him and dissolving his sense into the whispering forest enveloping all around the Cove: He felt as if Astrid was there next to him.

It wasn't only Astrid that was claimed. Ruffnut was never the same when Tuffnut passed. Her mischievous was gone along with her partner in crime. And Fishlegs never took in another dragon ever when his lazy but affection Gronckle - _Meatlug_ died.

Time has claimed a lot of things in his and his friends' lives. Including each other.

But one thing that it has not, cannot, and will never be able to destroy would be their friendship and love for each other. No one can deny the fact that even after all this time, Astrid Hofferson _is_ still the only girl in Chief Haddock's heart. Tuffnut Thorston the other half of Ruffnut. And Meatlug the only and most special dragon Fishlegs had ever had the opportunity to befriend and study.

Hiccup's trembling hand wiped away an unshed tear when memories almost drowned his thoughts like a hurricane to a fishing boat.

He was so occupied with his thoughts, he didn't even react when a black shadow swooped from the skies and landed rather quietly behind him. Hiccup didn't need to react, he knew full well who that was.

Toothless gave a slight harrumph as if saying: _"There you are."_

Hiccup knew his loyal dragon has been trying to look for him in the last hour. He slipped away at the crack of dawn, without even being seen by the busy traders and the villagers. His plan for unwinding has no place for someone, somewhere's trouble that need his attention.

He trusted his first-born daughter - Halldora to handle those trivial things. She would be the future Chief, after all, and she would surely need _(And appreciate)_ the extra practice. Despite being thirty four years old, married quite happily to a soldier in Berk's formidable armed force, along with a two years old ankle-biter to boot. She's still a Chief-in-Training.

"Hey bud." Hiccup greeted his best, best friend with his rasp and hoarse voice. And Toothless replied with a croon of his own that was rather quiet. Probably sensing the sadness sprouting its noxious flower in his rider's soul. The black dragon trotted slowly to Hiccup's side, and sat down on his haunches next to the bench.

The duo was content with just sitting in utter silence by each other's side, exchanging nothing and giving away nothing. They knew each other too well to settle for awkward small talks _(With Hiccup doing all of the talking)_ or absent-minded gestures.

"How's the kids." Hiccup asked without even looking at his dragon. Hiccup wasn't talking about _his_ children, of course. Toothless has his own family now and the Light Fury he met so long ago had gave him little hatchlings. The first batch has grown to adult, and all of them found riders within Hiccup's family. Halldora - only three years old at the time - bonded almost instantaneously with Toothless' first-born just like she was, and with the limited vocabulary the girl had at the time, the name _'Loki'_ was bestowed.

The little Fury grown up so troublesome and roguish that he could've easily lived up to his namesake. The first thing people would seek for when crates of fish disappeared overnight would be Loki. And Hiccup was sure that without Halldora as the calmer and more reasonable counterpart, the Fury would've airdropped rotten fish into people's chimneys just for the hell of doing it.

Loki was a bomb of mischief that could only be defused by his daughter. Even a stern whisper of his name from Halldora's lips would have the mighty dragon all sad and whining like a crossed puppy. It was quite amusing to watch _sometime_.

When he wasn't doing something stupid like dropping hogs into the village's square.

Then there was Gellir _(Means 'Sword' - courtesy of Astrid),_ his second-born. And from the other side from Toothless' family, _'Gunnr'_ \- _'War'._ Ironically, they were the tamest and the pacifists out of either families. Despite Astrid's insistence, Gellir never managed to learn how to properly handle weapons, instead, he dwelled on books about diplomacy - the first, and best option before war.

While Gunnr, for a dragon, was skittish and despite being almost if it wasn't for his mate and siblings he'd probably starve himself to death not knowing how to catch a fish even if it was swimming right in front of his paw. The dragon made it up for his inability to use violence with the ability to put even the most violent of dragons into submission. Gunnr has the poise and aura of an Alpha that he inherited from Toothless, so despite his pacifist nature - all submitted to him.

Lastly, Aurora and Angelía, Aurora surely took after Hiccup for her resourcefulness and the ability to craft anything out of ... _anything_. He personally aided her with her innate interest in blacksmithing and crafting from a young age. And now her skills matched, maybe even bested Hiccup's - and that's saying something.

After all, the walking cane he now used to move around and the sophisticated prosthetic he now worn on his leg were credited entirely to her - and they were all one-of-a-kind masterpieces. The cane's head with a life-like carving of a Night Fury's head _(Obviously modeled after Toothless)_ could be twisted, revealing a long flame sword hidden inside. Or at the flick of a mechanism hidden smartly at the back of the Night Fury's head, the cane could extend into an umbrella.

His prosthetic leg - not only beautifully carved with lines, stencils of dragons, and runes - but they can now also fit into the pedal of Toothless' saddle without adjusting.

If Hiccup could play favoritism - Aurora would be his first choice. According to his late lover, she was: _"How you would be if you were a girl."_

He smiled at that memory.

"Time really did take a toll on us, huh old friend." He whispered softly before leaning his body toward Toothless. And sure enough, the dragon shifted his body so that his head would lean against the powerful shoulder of the Night Fury.

Toothless stared down at his worn-out rider with his toxic green eyes, wide as always and dilated with curiosity and affection. He could feel the exhaustion rolling off the little human in waves, and Toothless couldn't help but thinking back to those days when they were young and the skies was their playground and not a limit. Toothless knew human lifespan was dramatically shorter than dragons - he could live up to centuries, but Toothless knew that one day Hiccup would leave him.

And somehow, the dragon knew that that day was approaching.

They've gone where no one goes, but the journey Hiccup would embark on would be the only place Toothless could not follow. At least not yet.

He trilled softly, and licked the face of his exhausted rider.

"You know that doesn't wash out." He responded as always, but Hiccup didn't move from his place leaning against the dragon.

Toothless chuckled in his usual rumbling sound.

 _Somethings really don't change._

Hiccup almost fell into a nap right there just from how soothing it was leaning against the source of warmth and comfort that is his dragon, surrounded by quaint nature ... if the serenity wasn't broken utterly by the shrieks of Night Furies echoing from afar, approaching fast to the Cove.

Hiccup could almost feel Toothless' eyes rolled in exasperation at the dramatic entrance of his offsprings. Furies are proud creatures that always want anything in the vicinity of couple hundred kilometers to know of their presence, so the signatory shrieks always accompanied them wherever they go.

He spied three silhouettes descending quick from the skies, and -

" _GET OUT OF THE WAY MORON!"_

One of the rider's voice - whose he quickly recognised to be Aurora - yelled at the top of her lungs. In their haste to make a heroic landing the two dragons' flight paths were entangled and Hiccup couldn't help but sigh as two gigantic bodies splashed into the lake when they collided. Loud shrieks - humans and dragons alike - shattered the air. The impact kicked up droplets and tiny fishes unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast radius in a giant spray of water.

The grumble that is the laughter of the sole dragon still flapping its wings in the air as it watched the scene unfold could probably be heard from the other side of the forest. Its rider - long blond hair waving in the wind - was having her in face in her palm, shaking her head in the process at the pure display of stupidity she had just witnessed.

"Oh goodness you two." Halldora uttered wearily. Her tone so disappointed Hiccup could sense the question within, wondering why in Thor's boot she was related to them.

"It was totally _his_ fault!" Short brown hair emerged from the water, and green eyes squinted at the last Fury and his rider hovering above the water.

"How was it my fault? Your dragon flew like a drunkard trying to ride a carriage down a slope!" Gellir spat out a mouthful of water, blue eyes trying to blink out the water that got into his blue eyes. His dragon - Gunnr - rose out of the water and shook the water off of his scales like a dog. Splattering his smaller rider with another wave of water that made him groan in annoyance.

"Yeah like yours was any better. He literally thrown himself into Angelía face braking mid-air like that, you unhatched, malformed swine!" The youngest sister growled as she tried to climb up the intricate, all-metal saddle design strapped onto her dragon's back.

Okay, to say that Aurora was a carbon-copy of Hiccup was an exaggeration. Because in the language department, she has surely inherited Astrid's potty mouth along with her _often_ colourful vocabularies.

"My point still stand, if you didn't fly like a drunkard it wouldn't have happened!"

"Why you little f..." Aurora's green eyes sparkled with a dangerous hint - a glare she definitely had taken from her mother. Hiccup was even slightly worried the tiny girl was going to body slam her older brother into the water and drown him right there.

" _Enough!"_ Halldora bellowed and the younger siblings immediately sewn their mouths shut. Silence once again was restored to the Cove besides the rhythmic flapping of Loki above the water. Even though the scene was kind of entertaining, Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief when his growing headache went away along with the ruckus.

Halldora landed on the lake's shore near where he and Toothless sat watching their unruly children. The woman gracefully hopped off of her Fury's back.

"We've been looking for you since morning, Dad." She said, a hint of worry in her tone. More than anyone, Halldora knew of his deteriorating health and was Hiccup's self-appointed nurse. Even though she has been training for the position of being Chief of Berk ever since she turned 18, Halldora was still reluctant in taking up the role. Hiccup knew that she still liked to do her current job: The head instructor at the Dragon's Academy.

If Aurora got his craftiness, Gellir got his love for peace and harmony, then Halldora definitely got his flying skill. He's willing to bet that she could even beat the entirety of the village in a race blindfolded. This, along with the fact that her strict, no-nonsense attitude gained her the respect of students almost instantaneously.

"How are you feeling?" She came close enough to whisper to him, making sure that the younger siblings still bickering huskily among themselves in the water despite her command won't pick up on their conversation.

"Never better."

He might be old, but his sarcasm is the few things of his that are still in working order.

Halldora rolled her eyes. "You've never been that good to begin with."

Hiccup grinned and shifted his body so that he's sprawled across the bench and his back is pressed against Toothless' side, still sitting as if a solid statue. The dragon's face impassive as if deep in thought, to Hiccup, Toothless didn't even look like he was still connected to reality.

"I'm an old fossil now, Hallie. I'll be in a museum soon enough."

"Don't talk like that, Dad. You still have a couple years to go." She frowned, obviously not happy with him being so much of a downer.

"We all know I'll get there eventually, sooner or later."

His daughter stayed silent at that, deciding not to grace him with an answer.

In the lake, the two's dragons have finally decided to join the bickering and Angelía was repeatedly slapping her older brother on the snout with her paw all the while grumbling and growling under her breath. The other, being the peaceful one out of the two was letting himself being picked on mercilessly.

"HEY GET YOUR DRAGON OFF OF MINE!"

"SAY SORRY AND I'LL CONSIDER IT!"

The two _adults_ on the shore just collectively sighed once again at the spectacular display of immaturity shown by two people who weren't even teenagers anymore.

Fire and ice, these two were: They have never mixed well with each other. While Aurora was crass and could hurl insults that could easily make even the most seasoned sailors blush straight to the face of another tribe's chief _(Long story short, his son decided that it would be a great idea to_ both _try to hit on her and grope her at the same time)_. Gellir would try to negotiate with pirates and dragon trappers if he could - which has never happened, fortunately, and he hoped never would.

The both of them would get themselves killed one of these days.

Toothless barred his teeth and let out a grunt so low Hiccup could barely hear it. But the two fighting Furies in the water sure did, and Angelía stopped her paw mid-swing, her blue eyes wide like a deer caught in torch lights as they directed themselves at her father. Gunnr was leaning back to dodge the blows and the pose he froze himself in was truly comical.

"Come on you four, get out of the water and behave yourself." Hiccup finally spoke up to them for the first time since they arrived, and the four dragged their soaking wet selves out of the lake.

Gellir and Gunnr were definitely frustrated from the way they were huffing and puffing every steps they took. While Aurora and Angelía still have murderous glints in their eyes from not being able to properly handled what they probably deemed to be an _'attempted assassination'_.

"I've told you two time and time again ..." Hiccup started, but before he got the chance to finish, his two youngest children spoke up in unison:

"... you two should learn to work together."

Aurora continued: _"You need to be a proper sister to Gellir and treat him better."_

"If he isn't a little twat I would."

The brother finished of what he had always told them that it's become a chore for either of them to listen to whenever they messed up: _"You shouldn't let Aurora tread all over you."_

"I tried, she still does."

The sister snickered gleefully and Hiccup would've sighed once more if he hadn't realised that he was doing it a little bit too much that day.

It's one more thing that would never change, it seems.

"You two are the most hopeless siblings I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot." Hiccup told them and Aurora gave a toothy grin that looks awfully similar to the infamous toothless grin all Furies seemed to have adopted.

"See, _brother_ , we're special." She blown Gellir a kiss and the other scrunched his face up in disgust.

"That's not a good thing. Anything that has to do with _you_ is a bad thing." He muttered.

"You love me." She puckered her lips and tried to kiss Gellir on the cheek, but the other backtracked as fast as he could away from the advancing sister:

"I'd rather love a Boneknapper missing his crotch."

And then he found himself watching his two children ran in laps around the lake, with the sister trying to tackle her brother and smooch him on the cheek while the brother did anything he could to avoid that fate. Their dragons, meanwhile, were less obvious in their quarreling since Toothless was considerably stricter and more capable of disciplining his children than Hiccup was. So Angelía kept on trying to slam her hind leg on Gunnr's tail - which kept on flickering back and forth to evade the heavy paw. Loki - in a rare bout of well behavior - was just contented with sunbathing instead of planning the next, great prank.

Hiccup laughed lightly at the sight and told Halldora. Who was unconsciously matching Toothless' quiet and stiff poise by his side:

"They'll need you a lot in the future, darling. Both to keep them in line and from killing each other."

"I know, Dad. But when have they ever listened to anyone?" A sad smile graced her lips, her eyes followed the short figure of the volatile brown haired sister still in hot pursuit of her brother: "... especially Aurora."

"They listen to you, you know. To both of them you're the sole person that they look up to out of respect. That's why you've always been the one to break up their fights ..." Hiccup hesitated slightly when the rest of what he intended to say appeared in his head.

" _... not even your mother was able to."_

Sensing the change of mood in the air, Toothless' green eyes flickered from his children to his rider worriedly. Ever since Astrid's death and Hiccup's health worsening, Toothless had been extra attentive to his rider's feeling. A high pitched whine rose from his throat and Hiccup looked up briefly, meeting the questioning gaze of the Night Fury:

"I'll be fine, bud."

"Are you really?" Halldora spoke. "Mum wouldn't be happy to see you like this."

"I know." He told her, but within he wasn't even soothe in the slightest by the thought.

 _Don't be such a big, baby boo Hiccup. The world keeps on spinning._

Her voice whispered to him in his mind. He reckoned that's what she would say to him if she was able to right then.

"Mine stopped when you left all of a sudden all those years ago." Hiccup whispered to himself, a small part of his mind wishing that it was truly her he was talking to.

Instead, all he got was a confused: "What?" from his confused daughter.

"Nothing, love. Just ghosts." He said, once again looking up at the clear blue skies.

That's when another thought occurred to him.

"Y'know, I've never even let you see your mother's tomb." He sat up slightly, his back still laid against Toothless' side.

"I thought she was buried at sea?" She spoke quizzically. Astrid died when she was 18 years old, and Halldora had spent a great amount of time with her mother. Enough to know all of the details of her death and be greatly impacted by it rather than her other siblings, which were still too young to fully understand what had transpired that day.

"She wasn't." Hiccup smiled. "The casket was empty, Astrid wanted to be buried as she was, instead. This here ..." He gestured tiredly at the scenery around him: "... was her home. She told me the day before she passed that if she did not make it through the night ..."

"To bury her in this Cove."

Hiccup heard the surprised gasp of his daughter. No one knew this except him and his dragon. Hiccup and Toothless were the ones to carry the casket that actually contained her body to this Cove, and he was the one to dig the grave through the night and laid the dirt on top with his own hands.

"She wanted no one to know this place, it has always been one of our little secrets. She was not fond of great fanfare, either, so I decided it'd be best to let others grief an image, and for her to be where she wanted to. In secret." He explained, his voice hollowed with sorrow.

Hiccup shakily stood up onto his feet. Toothless wasted no time at all in lowering his head so that he could lean his weight onto. Halldora was also quick to appear by his side, one arm wrapped across his chest, and the other gripped onto his arm to help him up.

"It's about time, anyway." Hiccup breathed heavily with exertion, his left hand found the familiar head of the walking cane Aurora had crafted for him. He spied the two younger siblings stopping dead on their tracks when they saw him stand up. Finally realising that the reason why they're there in the first place was not to snap each other's neck, they walked to him.

"Done?" Halldora scowled at the two and they directed their gazes downward to the ground, suddenly finding their furry shoes particularly interesting.

"It was her ..." Gellir started and Aurora didn't even let him finish the sentence: "... don't you dare finish that sentence or I swear to Odin's beard I'll _destroy_ you."

"What do you remember of your mother?" Hiccup said suddenly, and the two heads which were lowered snapped up and stared wide eyed at him.

"What do you mean?" Aurora stammered.

 _Poor kid_. Astrid passed away when she was only one year old, so he doubt she could even remember her face. Unlike Gellir, despite being just three at the time - mother's warmth may had been written into the deepest recess of his early memory.

"Follow me." He graced them with that singular, short reply before turning around and making his way toward the towering tree behind the bench. The foliage's whisper in the wind getting louder and louder as they approached.

He could feel the puzzled exchange of looks between his three children. They were also followed close behind by Toothless' three hatchlings, sharing the same awkward quietness as their riders.

Hiccup stopped short before the giant trunk of the great tree, continuously prodding the dirt below with the blunt bottom of his walking cane. The dried thud of the ground being broken was the only sound in the Cove for a while:

"What are you looking for, Dad? Maybe I can use my detector?" Aurora finally said after a while of watching him digging around the base of the tree as if looking for something.

"That wouldn't be necessary, my dear." He launched the walking cane for a final time before a loud _'clang'_ reverberated through the quiet space. It sounded like he had struck metal.

"Toothless." He nodded toward the Night Fury and walked out of the way. The dragon wasted no time in lighting the patch of ground up with a blinding stream of superheated plasma out of his mouth. The fire was consciously aimed, however, and besides the ground marked by Hiccup which was scorched and smoking after, the tree next to it was completely untouched.

It took Hiccup's children several seconds to adjust their eyes when the fire finally shut. It was so hot that even when they were standing several metres away from Toothless, they all shared a common suspicion that their eyebrows were singed.

"Come." Hiccup beckoned the children with his other hand that was unoccupied with holding the cane. And when they gingerly approach the smoking crater.

When the smoke wafting from the dirt finally cleared, Aurora was the first to react with a choked cry and her hand flew up to cover her mouth. There within the freshly made dig was a metallic plaque. The surface was glowing red after the searing heat of Toothless' flame washed it over. Yet the inscription could still be read sharply:

Here lies

Astrid Haddock - Hofferson

Warrior

Wife, Mother, and Friend

He could've thought of something more to write underneath the markings. Something beautiful like a wise saying or something touching to remember her by. But he just couldn't and instead settled for far more ordinary wordings. It was easy to think of beautiful prose to say now. But consumed by loss and grief at the time, the only thing he could think of at that moment was how much he'd miss her calling him up to make breakfast in the morning and how her body would feel next to him.

That's not something you can easily put into words.

He supposed that the fact that her true headstone had only been viewed by four people and four dragons ever was what made it extraordinary. Better still, all those eyes settled on the metallic memorial all belonged to those who were special to her. And Hiccup felt like that's what she'd want rather than unknown people from far and wide paying their respect out of obligation and duty rather than genuine sense of loss.

"This is..." Gellir whispered, bewilderment clear in his tone. "...this is it?"

"This Cove was the place it all started." Hiccup told them, his voice devoid of emotion - emotions that could break him apart if he let them spilled out.

"She found me here when I was training Toothless. And though we were off to be a pretty rough start, with me having a couple bruises on my stomach at the end of the day." He chuckled. "She saw and understood what I was doing. Enough to be one of the only ally I had when everyone thought that I was out of my mind."

He redirected his sunken eyes from the reddened, tear-stained faces of his children back to the metal headstone. He knew her bones to be just right underneath, and his heart twitched painfully.

"That's why she wanted to be here. It's here that it started, and it's here where she wanted it to end."

 _The wildest journey of my life._

Hiccup still remembered the laughter in her tired voice when she said that.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Halldora asked the one question he had prepared for almost every single day ever since she passed. It took him almost an entire minute to muster up an answer:

"I never found an opportune moment to tell. Aurora and Gellir were still too young, and you were being the happiest you could be, busied with your marriage and your job." He didn't dare meet her in the eyes, or any of them, for that matter. "I didn't want to burden any of you, especially you. I know how hard her passing hit you back then."

"That was stupid, Dad." She sniffled, he could feel agitation in her voice. She was angry.

"In hindsight, yes." He reached out a hand and ran his palm over the familiar texture of Toothless' scales, standing vigilant by his side.

He saw the kids' dragons were also standing close to their emotional riders in a protective manner as they - albeit difficultly - process the revelation. In a rare show of love, Gellir was having his arm draped across Aurora's shoulder as she sobbed into his neck when she finally found the remnants of the mother she had, but never got to know. Gellir, as a man, was still compelled in holding his tears that was quickly building up into a misty layer in front of his eyes. Halldora said nothing, and her face would be completely impassive if not for the tears streaming freely down her cheeks.

"I would like to ask you all a favour." He told them, and three pairs of reddened eyes looked at him.

He took a deep breath before saying with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, the corner of his lips quivering: "I want to be next to her, one day. Call it your old man's last wish."

"Don't say that again or I'll tell Toothless to throw you off a cliff. I know he wouldn't mind." Aurora said with her face still buried in Gellir's cuff, and his dragon warbled as if agreeing. He reared his giant head around at him, his humongous eyes narrowed as if saying that he was dead serious in giving him a thousand-metres dunk into the ocean.

He cracked a genuine smile for the first time since morning. And while he watched their children sat down by her grave and told her from morning until late in the afternoon their stories, interlaced with some bickering and argument. He thought he felt a presence behind him, though it could easily be a breeze.

 _Reminds me of home._ He imagined her voice speaking, and that brought a warmness through his veins.

"Not yet." He whispered softly, accompanied by raucous laughters in the background when Gunnr decided to lick Gellir's head and wetted his blond mane with dragon saliva.

With great weariness, he bowed his head as the sun set, replacing the brilliant day with the void of night and dazzling clouds with a billion stars. Though time passes by brutal and uncaring, it will never be able to grip on his family and his home permanently. It has broken a part of it a long time ago, but that's just a temporary arrangement. His heart wouldn't be missing its other piece no longer for long, once dead would finally claimed him, returning him back to her side.

There's still Toothless and his children - they surely would have a hard time thereafter, especially Toothless. But he hoped that they'd eventually find it in themselves to move on from this Cove once he had found rest in it beside her.

So that one day mother, father, children, and dragons alike of the Haddock could dominate the skies once more. Not here, surely, but somewhere else unchained by time and death.

It will be there that'd be their final home.

He raised his head toward the heaven and told the spiraling galaxies and stars spun quick, where Hiccup hoped she was listening:

"In time, love."


End file.
